Ibram X. Kendi

Profile Overview

Ibram Xolani Kendi (born Ibram Henry Rogers; August 13, 1982) is an American author, professor, anti-racism activist, and historian of race and discriminatory policy in the U.S. He is author of books including Stamped from the Beginning, How to Be an Antiracist, Antiracist Baby, and Chain of Ideas. He has been interviewed by such figures as Stephen Colbert and Oprah Winfrey, and in 2019, the New York Times referred to him as "one of the country’s most in-demand commentators on racism." Kendi was also included in Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
In July 2020, he founded the Center for Antiracist Research at Boston University where he served as director until 2025. An internal investigation was launched into potential financial mismanagement of the center. Kendi was cleared of financial mismanagement, but the center underwent an audit regarding his leadership and the center's culture. In 2021, Kendi was a recipient of the MacArthur Fellows Program award. In January 2025, Howard University announced that Kendi would join its faculty and lead its newly founded Institute for Advanced Study, created to investigate the African diaspora. In 2026, he was appointed as the inaugural Carter G. Woodson Endowed Chair in History in the College of Arts and Sciences at Howard University.